Packing Them In!

1. Packing Them In! EDIT 6900  Problem Project Presentation Naomi Craver  Aimee Grigsby  George Webber December 8, 2007

2. What’s the Problem? Students aren’t checking out many materials or visiting the media center. A lone student checks his email. Image source: Microsoft Office ClipArt Gallery

3. Why is that a problem? • Active school libraries contribute toward student achievement and higher test scores. (Lance, Rodney, Hamilton-Pennell, Colorado State Library, 2000) • In Alaska, Colorado, and Oregon, individual student visits to the library media center correlated with test scores. (Lance, 2001)

4. What about circulation? In one study, there was no correlation between circulation and student test scores (Kline, 2004) • This was one small study in N.C. • Circulation reflects materials use • And we feel the love of reading is an additional measure of an effective, active media program that should reflect in materials use

5. Well, what do we look at? • Why aren’t more people visiting and using the media center? • Does it smell bad in here? • What factors of a high school media center environment affect circulation and visitation?

6. Where do you start looking? Relationship between the broad sets of variables that might affect use of the media center.

7. What’s to consider? • Variety of issues to consider • Physical space • Accessibility • Materials • Programs & service • Instructional use & collaboration • Reputation

8. And so, the question is? What non-physical factors of a high school media center environment affect circulation and visitation?

9. Recurring themes: Our search revealed the following recurring themes impacting media center use: • Advocacy • Learner-centered activities • Programs • Collaboration • Evaluation

10. Advocacy: Promotion • Develop a designated constituency • Parents, teachers, administrators, students, former students, community people (Geier, 2007) • “Media specialists must publicize what they do” p. 32 (Geier, 2007) • Promotion of library products and services helps better achieve library goals and builds good will (Webb, 2000)

11. Advocacy: Advertising • Advertise school wide programs & incentives • Call the newspaper, school district newsletter, PTO newsletter, etc. • Report to administrators • Be a teacher resource • Involve teachers in book and materials orders • Display student works • Get involved outside the media center (Geier, 2007) • “Share your goals and progress with others” (Coleman, 2007)

12. Advocacy: Web site The school library Web page • Library’s presence outside the walls • Can be an advocacy tool, visibility tool, public relations tool (Church, 2006) • A successful site serves not only students and educators, but also the needs of the global learning community (Rutkowski, 1997)

13. Advocacy: Attitude Media specialist attitude is critical • Part of what makes or breaks the quality of service is attitude. • Attitudes impact the reading environment • Attitudes inform practice and support efforts (La Marca, 2004) Attitude of the media specialist impacts perception and reputation

14. Learner-centered activities The active media program is involved in these efforts on two fronts: • Learner centered activities aimed directly at students (e.g. Book Club) • Learner-centered activities collaboratively planned for students (e.g. Research paper with Information Literacy skill integration)

15. Learner-centered activities: Programs • Using established events: • Banned Book Week – September • Teen Read Week – October • Children's Book Week – November • NEA’s Read Across America Week – March • Book Fairs (Moyer, 2007)

16. Reading Programs: Book Clubs Library Club Students should have an active role in designing and executing Contests Circulation Contests Students must check out a book to be entered in this contest Design a bookmark contest Winning bookmarks can be reproduced and handed out to the students (Moyer, 2007) Learner-centered activities: Programs • Breaking the routine in the media center can help shift student perceptions (Coleman, 2007)

17. Making Changes in the Media Center Students need to be involved in making changes to the Media Center environment. Advisory Team Design Planning Student Input (Bolan, 2006) They should feel like their input matters and that they can make a significant change to their learning environment Allow students from the art program or vocational programs like construction, drafting or CAD to get involved (Bolan, 2006) Learner-centered activities: Programs

18. Learner-centered activities:Collaboration • Involve the teachers in book orders (Geier, 2007) • Collaborate with teachers on lesson plans • Teach classes in the library and throughout the schools • This will bring help increase circulation and visitation by helping students get more involved and acquainted with the library.

19. Learner-centered activities:Collaboration • A Pennsylvania study showed that an increase in student achievement resulted when the media specialist exercised the roles of: • Teaching cooperatively with classroom teachers • Providing in-service training to teachers • Serving on curriculum and standards committees (Hamilton-Pennell et al, 2000)

20. Learner-centered activities:Collaboration • Offering input to teachers in building their classroom libraries helps cater to all students (Holmes, 2007) • Invite teachers to tour the facility • Have them look critically at the design • Surveys or focus groups provided to teachers gives them an opportunity to be heard • By doing so, a Media Specialist can find out what changes the teachers would like to see (Hill & Gaughan, 2006)

21. Evaluation • It all comes down to evaluation… • Evaluation seen in two ways: • Evaluating websites, resources, research methods, etc. • Evaluating every service, resource, and role provided by the LMC and executed by the SLMS

22. Evaluation • Successful library media programs reveal during evaluation that the impact is greater when: • Support staff can allow the Media Specialist to attend meetings, teach, collaborate, etc. • There is administrator support • Funds are raised successfully (Lance, 2001)

23. Evaluation • Yearly objectives based on general goals should have specific duties to be completed by the Media Specialist • Duties carried out by the Media Specialist should be: • Measurable • Observed • Produced • Regular meetings with the Media Committee and Administration allow the Media Specialist to be held accountable (Johnson, 2001)

24. Evaluation • Assessment Tools • Assess the program • Offer description of services of an effective LMC • Suggest growth plan & study the current state • Help the Media Specialist evaluate work at the end of a given time period • Serve as a guide for daily activities • Allows for professional evaluation by the administration • Examples include rubrics, checklists, self-study workbooks, leadership guides, etc. (Johnson, 2001)

25. Evaluation • Program evaluations should only exist as tools that will help increase budgets, improve working conditions, and direct planning • Effective program evaluation used as a starting point for long-range planning will improve the library media program significantly and permanently (e.g. PDEP) (Johnson, 2001)

26. Tying it all together All of these tie together and feed off each other

27. Strategies Advocate! Advertise, Promote, Blow Your Horn and Use Your Web Site Collaborate! Teach, Help Teachers, Be a Resource, Host an Open House Evaluate! Measure Return of Effort & Effectiveness, Involve Staff, Evaluate Everything, PDEP Activate! Offer Programs, Create Incentives, Involve Kids,

28. More Strategies • Collaboration • Involve staff in learner-centered activities • Pair teachers with students in reading incentive programs • (Moyer, 2007) Evaluation • Join a committee for curriculum and standard analysis • Meet regularly with Media Committee and Administration

29. Resources for further reading • Igniting the Spark: Library Programs That Inspire High School Patrons http://www.amazon.com/Igniting-Spark-Library-Programs-Inspire/dp/1563087979 • Internet Resources for Library Media Specialists http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/media.htm • AASL Advocacy Tool Kit http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/toolkits/aasladvocacy.cfm

30. Bibliography Bolan, K. (2006). Looks like Teen Spirit: Libraries for youth are changing--thanks to teen input. School Library Journal, 52(11). 44-50. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ755225) Retrieved November 7, 2007, from ERIC database. Callison, D. (2007) Evaluation criteria for places of learning. Knowledge Quest, 35 (3), 14-19. Church, A. (2006). Your library goes virtual: Promoting reading and supporting research. Library Media Connection, 25(3), 10-13. Retrieved November 6, 2007, from Academic Search Complete database.

31. Bibliography Coleman, J. (2007). Rut busters!: How to inject life into a lifeless library. Library Media Connection, 25(5), 20. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ762368) Retrieved November 7, 2007, from ERIC database. Geier, D. (2007). Prevent a Disaster in your library: Advertise. Library Media Connection, 25(4), 32. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ762361) Retrieved November 7, 2007, from ERIC database. Hamilton-Pennell, C., Lance, K. C., Rodney, M. J., & Hainer, E. (2000). Dick and Jane go to the head of the class. School Library Journal, Retrieved November 21, 2007, from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA153041.html.

32. Bibliography Hill, A., & Gaughan, S. (2006). A library media center: Makeover story. Library Media Connection. 25, 41-2. Johnson, D. (2001). What gets measured gets done: The importance of evaluating your library media program. Book Report, Retrieved November 1, 2007, from http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/what-gets-measured-gets-done.html Kline, W. (2004). No truth in numbers: The effect of the media center on the performance of North Carolina high schools as measured by abc standards. (Paper for the M.S. in L.S degree, University of North Carolina, May 2004.) University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Library and Information Sciences SILS Electronic Thesis and Dissertations, http://etd.ils.unc.edu:8080/dspace/items-by-author?author=William+C.+Kline, 58.

33. Bibliography La Marca, S. (2004). An enabling adult: The role of the teacher- librarian. Orana, 40(3), 4-13. Retrieved October 19, 2007, from Academic Search Complete database. Lance, K. (1994). The impact of school library media centers on academic achievement. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from American Library Association Web site: http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/editorschoiceb/infopower/selectlancehtml.cfm Lance, K., Rodney, M., Hamilton-Pennell, C., & Colorado State Library, D. (2000, April 1). How school librarians help kids achieve standards: The second Colorado study. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED445698) Retrieved November 23, 2007, from ERIC database.

34. Bibliography Lance, K. (2001). Proof of the power: Recent research on the impact of school library media programs on the academic achievement of U.S. public school students. ERIC Digest, Retrieved November 1, 2007, from http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-2/proof.htm McCracken, A. (2001). School library media specialists' perceptions of practice and importance of roles described in information power. Retrieved November 8, 2007, from American Library Association Web site: http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume42001/mccracken.cfm Moyer, M. (2007). Books alive: Reading incentive programs for high school students. Library Media Connection, 25(7), 10-12. Retrieved October 19, 2007, from Professional Development Collection database.

35. Bibliography Rutkowski, K. (1997). School cyberlibraries. MultiMedia Schools, 4(Nov-Dec), 70. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ554167) Retrieved November 6, 2007, from ERIC database. Webb, J. (2000, July 1). Using the internet to promote the school library media center. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED445685) Retrieved November 7, 2007, from ERIC database.